Japan and the USA remain tied in the race for most golds. Ali Deloof tied for gold in the 50 back to give the Americans a gold, but Japan won gold in tonight’s 4×200 free relay, so they’re now tied with 7 golds each.

Japan’s Kanako Watanabe brought home a gold in the 200 breast, but Olympic gold medalist Ryan Held (100 free) and Hellen Moffitt (100 fly) brought in 2 wins for the Americans to bring it to a tie between the 2 countries with 6 gold each.

29TH WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES (SUMMER UNIVERSIADE 2017)

The fifth preliminary session from Taipei features a total of six events, with the men’s 200 back, women’s 200 free and men’s 100 fly leading us off. We’ll then see a few sprints in the women’s 50 back and men’s 50 breast, and then things will wrap up with the women’s 800 free.

Kosuke Hagino came back on American Robert Owen in the last heat of the men’s 200 back with a 29.48 final 50, posting the top time of the morning in 1:58.83. Owen was right there in 1:58.96 and sits 2nd overall.

The first circle-seeded heat, heat 3, was tightly bunched throughout, but it was Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys who got to the wall first in 2:00.25. 7th, 6th and 5th at the turns, Rapsys closed in 28.81 to clip Belarusian Mikita Tsmyh (2:00.46) at the wall. Korean Lee Juho was 3rd in the heat in 2:00.50.

American Austin Katz closed well to out-touch South Africa’s Martin Bindell at the wall in heat 4, 1:59.64 to 1:59.98. They sit 3rd and 4th overall, and Canadian Robert Hill (2:00.78) pulled up in 3rd in the heat and heads into the semis tied with Roman Larin.

Khloptsov’s Ukrainian teammate Oleksii Ivanov won heat 8 in 52.80, and moves on in 5th. Overall notable names to make it through to the semis include Brazil’s Vini Lanza (53.03), former World medalist in this event Konrad Czerniak (53.16), and 200 fly gold medalist Nao Horomura (53.21).

Andrew Wilson, Andrea Toniato and Ilya Shymanovich took turns taking over the top time of the morning in the last three heats of the men’s 50 breast, with the Belarusian Shymanovich sitting atop the leaderboard at 27.42. Toniato is 2nd at 27.54, and Wilson, who tied for gold in the 100 and won the 200 outright, is 3rd in 27.57.

For a third consecutive event there was a tie in a critical position, only this time a swim-off is all but a sure thing. Jacob Montague and Marcin Stolarski are deadlocked in 16th place at 28.24, and will race again for the last spot in the semis barring one of them conceding.

Sarah Koehler, Hannah Moore and Camilla Hattersley posted the top three times in the women’s 800 free from the final heat, with Koehler topping them in 8:32.08. Moore took 2nd in 8:33.00, and Hattersley overtook Joanna Evans late for 3rd in 8:35.19. Evans qualified 7th overall in 8:36.89.

About James Sutherland

James is currently a university swimmer for the Laurentian Voyageurs in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. He is studying economics. Along with swimming, he also loves hockey. He's in his 14th season as a competitive swimmer.
Best Times - SCM (LCM)
50 FR - 24.56 (25.12)
100 FR - 53.58 (56.70)
200 FR - 1:56.07 (2:04.29)
1500 …